Celebrating the begin and/of the end

 

Lee “Scratch” Perry is one of those names you heard no matter where you grew up in the world, but couldn’t necessarily quite place it. The fact that is sounds cool helps; the fact that people occasionally make references to it, almost always reverential, also does. The point is, however, most people outside of Jamaica fail to fully comprehend the sheer impact Mr Perry had on Reggae, Dub and/or music in general. Let’s rewind…

Lee “Scratch” Perry was a man of so many talents you couldn’t quite list them, here or anywhere. Working as a producer in Kingston, Jamaica, he interacted with everybody worth noting — including Bob Marley and his Wailing colleagues, of course, but also Beastie Boys or The Clash. Working as a studio manager, he actually had artists record in a makeshift space in his backyard for many years, creating cult material in the process. Working as a composer and songwriter, he is largely responsible for the development of the Reggae subgenre they call Dub music. Working as a singer and musician, he leaves behind a decades-long catalogue of some of the best music to ever come out of Jamaica. All in many days’ work…

Mr Perry passed away yesterday of unknown causes in his homeland at the venerable age of 85. This pretty much leaves Jimmy Cliff to represent the O.G.’s of Jamaican sounds into the 21st century…

Meanwhile, Hip Hop’s reigning king Kanye West surprise-released his long awaited 10th studio album Donda on that very same day. Less surprisingly, it was once again surrounded by controversy: the singer/rapper/producer claimed the publication had been set without his approval and that a song featuring embattled rapper DaBaby was missing proper clearing from the artist’s manager. Whether this is true or not, all we know is that all 27 tracks from Donda are now available on Spotify — and that the album quite logically lasts close to 2 hours…

Time will tell if Donda becomes part of musical history. The passing of Lee “Scratch” Perry clearly will…